While 2017 didn’t bring the joy Aston Villa fans were hoping for as they danced around the fireplace to Auld Lang Syne, it has been a year of slow progression.

Steve Bruce has shifted on some of the club’s costly flops and drafted in players he trusts, who he will ultimately live or die by.

A solid start to the Championship campaign has slowed of late, but fifth-placed Villa are nicely poised to mount a final push for glory in the New Year.

With that in mind, what can Villa fans expect - and hope for - from 2018?

A Premier League return?

There is one thing Villa simply must achieve next year: promotion. If May doesn’t bring an open top bus tour around the city centre, Bruce probably won’t be in the job next year - that’s something he has admitted on countless occasions.

Bruce understands the need to return Villa to the Premier League, not just because the size of the club demands top flight football - but to ease the financial pressure another season in the second tier would bring.

Can Villa reach the promised land? Well, that remains to be seen, but they’ve given themselves a better chance than last season. Villa had amassed 31 points from 22 games last season, they had six more at that stage this time around.

Financial Fair Play restrictions lifted

This depends solely on Villa returning to the Premier League. The extra cash generated by a top flight return would allow Dr Tony Xia to unleash the purse strings a little in the transfer market.

Meanwhile, the sides battling it out at the bottom of the Premier League banked an estimated minimum of £97million.

Villa were - and continue to be - boosted by parachute payments in the Championship but the financial reward of a place in the Premier League makes it imperative that this is their final season playing the likes of Barnsley and Ipswich Town.